The first Place I visited on my Travels was the Egyptian city of Cairo. Needless to say I was highly anticipating visiting there. Before I visited, Cairo used to conjure images of deserts, the Nile and of course the Pyramids. Seeing the last remaining ancient wonder of the world was going to be, in my mind, an unparalleled experience. At the end of may we departed Heathrow airport for the start of three months worth of traveling.
When I arriving in Cairo the very first thing we noticed was just how high the temperature was. I know Egypt is a desert country, but still the heat was ferocious. The plane had landed in the evening and the temperature was hovering just above 30 C. In the subsequent days this would rise to 42 C as a minimum. Luckily we had booked a hostel beforehand who had kindly arranged a driver to take us directly to the hostel, which was situated in downtown Cairo. Arranging transportation from the airport is an absolute must for 2 very good reasons. Firstly we had no idea where we were going and wouldn't have liked to explain this to a taxi driver. Secondly the roads in Cairo are by far the worst I have ever witnessed. For most of the journey to the hostel the road had three lanes, although Cairo drivers do not abide by one driver per lane. Cars drove alongside one another 5 abreast with lots of near collisions. I would never want to drive on these roads, I was so glad to have a veteran of Egyptian driving take us to our hostel.
The hostel itself was fairly basic, two beds, an AC unit, breakfast and a communal wash area. I'm not somebody who particularly cares about luxury so this hostel was great for us at only 5 ponds a night. Plus the guys who worked there were some of the most genuine people we met on the trip. They gave out brilliant advice and in Cairo that advice goes a long way. For example they taught us how to cross the roads and handle the people who wanted to drag you off to some tea shop in the middle of nowhere, but more about that later. In fact I felt incredibly sorry for these guys, I had one conversation about why British people were not coming to Egypt anymore. I told him after seeing the revolution the year before on the news, people were worried about any potential dangers of visiting. I omitted discussing any attacks on embassies as a potential reason why, not wanting to appear facetious. He assured me that things have calmed down a lot since then and there was little risk. However when walking down the Street the local people appeared desperate for any gains from tourism. At first this wasn't too bad but after 5 days of hearing "come look at this" we got very annoyed. Egypt has long thrive on its tourism industry and has experienced declines, I can't say if you were heckled as frequently before the revolution. A month later the second more violent revolution had begun in Egypt and I wasn't surprised at the time as the country was going through difficult times and seemed to me that promises of the first revolution had not come to fruition.
Our first place to visit in Cairo was the world famous Egyptian museum. We entered (with a student price of course) and immediately saw the grandeur of the building and its surroundings. We would have admired the outside longer if not for the burning heat. The contents of the museum range from different periods of Egyptian history. There is so much to see in this museum and there were one particular highlight for me which was the Mummified bodies placed in glass cabinets in rooms of the main museum. you have to pay more for this privilege but is definitely worth it. Looking at these mummified remains gave a us a glimpse into the burying ritual and I can't think of many other places were something like this would be on display. The Museum was brilliant even if we didn't fully understand what significance the artifacts had.
Our second day was pyramid day, our method of transportation was the local bus. for starters we could not understand where the buses were going as it was all in Arabic. we had to change bus at least three times to get to the pyramids with help from some of the locals. I do not recommend doing this, it is crowded, hot and we were constantly worried about where we were going. once we arrived at the pyramids we met a supposed government agent. He even showed me his ID which looked like an expired library card. we tried to shake this guy off, but he was persistent, so I resorted to the age old trick of getting angry. needless to say this worked and we witnessed the pyramids without an annoying tour guide. Next was the other annoying guys who would try to steal your tickets, They an be pushy and demand to see your tickets and walk off with them. Completely ignore these guys or report them to the tourist police as they seriously will piss you off. You can buy a ride on a camel or horse at the pyramid complex as well, we didn't do this due to a lack of funds and were concerned about the animals well being, but other people looked like they were having fun.
The pyramids and sphinx are majestic, you can get up close to the pyramid and even enter the two largest ones. The sphinx looks fantastic and was my personal favourite construction there. The pyramids are great to marvel at and up close you can see just how long and arduous completing them would have been. It was sweltering heat that day and we had had trouble with a few people in the complex which slightly detracted from the experience. That being said though the pyramids our outstanding and despite some of the problems of Cairo I was very pleased and privileged to go and see them. My advice though, go see them with an authorized tour, it will be a smoother process and much fewer problems with the hawkers.
After the museum and pyramids we still had 3 days left in Cairo, In truth I wish we had only stayed 3 days here. Even the Hostel guides said two days was all was needed to see the attractions. Despite this we went off around the city looking for adventure, this grew tiring after constantly being accosted in the street. A lot of the people are genuine and are interested in where your from and what your doing, but this does grow monotonous. on several occasions you will be asked to go to a tea shop or papyrus museum with what appears to be a friendly local. These are almost always traps and do not go with them. They will offer you free items and blackmail you to give them money. we entered one tea shop and a man gave us a "free" picture. He then insisted we made a generous donation to his daughters wedding. I declined this offer and insisted i did not want the photo, he wasn't particularly amused, but then neither was I. Crossing the road in Cairo can be a peril. just like the aforementioned traffic drivers can be dangerous. There are not traffic lights in the main areas like Talaat Harb Street or Tahrir Square. When crossing you have to be decisive and just go for it, the cars will stop for you. If you cross with trepidation the cars will keep going, it can be very daunting. Follow the locals across and it should be okay. we did find some nice areas of the city like the garden city and the views of the Nile were spectacular.Our area was also a bit annoying for food, The GAD restaurant was nice but to be honest I can have Mcdonalds and KFC at home. We struggled to find authentic cuisine, which was disappointing. After 5 days we had had enough of Cairo and were looking forward to our next destination.
My overall thought on Cairo were mixed, on the one hand I had seen the pyramids, the Nile and the museum. on the other hand there was a lot of heckling and searing heat often made Cairo seem unbearable. Cairo was not an outstanding city or me, the main attractions are of course the old monuments and relics. I would recommend going to Petra or Alexandria for a few days. In hindsight I wish we had done this, but it does lead for further exploration in the future. Don't be put off going though by this blog entry, the pyramids are brilliant and it is worth going just for them.
